6/8/09

Wolf Parade: An Indie Underdog If There Ever Was One


Wolf Parade has been overlooked by the world and is bursting with talent. So much so, that in between album releases for Wolf Parade the band members have all have had side projects, some very good…Handsome Furs, and some very Bad…Frog Eyes. Nonetheless, this band’s contributions to indie music have gone greatly unnoticed out side of the Montreal indie scene. The members of the band formed on the west cost, somewhere in-between Portland Oregon and Vancouver B.C. in April of 2003. The band’s style is a neo-Punk Rock filled with the now familiar sound styling found in Montreal indie music.
There first album, a self titled EP, was recorded and released while the band was on tour and it shows, the album is very raw and has vocals that are virtually incomprehensible. Even with its problems, this first record bursts with innovative sounds.

Wolf Parade’s first full length album Apologies to Queen Mary (2005) is completely unfocused, but that’s what makes it great. Once you listen to the album you can’t help but be amazed at the variety of sounds and styles that are enlisted to make up its track list. This album feels like every side project that the band has come out with from then on, all of the best parts without any of that dull continuity that with a more commercial product. Apologies to Queen Mary is a roughly formed concept, that is filled more with visceral emotion expressed in a uniquely Wolf Parade way. Every track on this album is worth listening to over and over again, it is a must have for any indie music fan. Wolf Parade is the raw embodiment of the Montreal indie music scene, dynamic, confused, wonderful and it will take you on a journey with every track.

Wolf Parade’s second full length album At Mount Zoomer (2008) leaves you thinking about Apologies to Queen Mary and the happy mess that it was. At Mount Zoomer was made three years after Apologies to Queen Mary. In between these albums all members of the band took up side projects, and by doing so exhausted the creativity that fueled their first full length album. For a follow up album we may not have gotten all that we wanted, but the trade off is worth it. The Handsome Furs & Sunset Rubdown, the best of the band’s side projects, can be thought of as an exploration of all the confused musical ideas flying around in Apologies to Queen Mary. These ideas are more focused, sometimes fantastic, always a true to form.

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